‘Maintenance lapse’ could have caused Havelian plane crash in 2016

ISLAMABAD: An investigation by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority’s Safety Investigation Board revealed that a maintenance lapse on part of PIA’s engineering department could have been the cause for the crash of flight PK-661 in Havelian in 2016. The PIA flight carrying 48 passengers and crew crashed on the way to Islamabad from Chitral on December 7, 2016. Everyone on board died. Prominent religious scholar and former singer Junaid Jamshed was among the deceased. “Dislodging of one blade resulted in the in-flight engine shut down,” the report said, adding that the turbine blades were to be changed after completion of 10,000 flying hours. The said engine was under maintenance on 11 November, 2016, and it had already completed 10,004 hours but the engine wasn’t changed. “This activity should have been undertaken at that time, but it was missed out by the concerned.”